A rare rock crystal Stupa set with gilt Plaques China, Liao Dynasty, dated 1043

the translucent stone with several cloudy inclusions, carved as a tall faceted stupa of hexagonal section, rising from a waisted block base, possibly representing Mount Sumeru, with a band of pendent lotus lappets falling from a low balustrade, set with twelve gilt plaques secured to the crystal with drilled pins in each corner arrayed in two registers, the lower register with Buddhas seated in dhyanasana upon lotus below faceted canopies, the upper register with Buddhas standing upon lotus, all surmounted by an overhanging roof with radiating ribs, with a jewel-like domed finial encircled by lappets set with a recumbent phoenix or long-tailed bird, the base similar set with a square gilt plaque punched with a dedication dated to the 12th year of the Zhongxi reign (AD 1043).

The twenty character dedicatory inscription translates as:
Upper Capital Grand Preceptor, Priest Lu Xuanyen, presented this pagoda on the 8th day of the 4th month of the 12th year of the Zhongxi reign.

The use of rock crystal or agate in combination with gold is characteristic of the Liao period. Compare a small rock crystal and gold reliquary sold in our London rooms, 12th June 2003, lot 54; and a small agate sarara jar with gold cover, excavated from the Northern Pagoda (Beita) in Chaoyang, Liaoning province, which contained two Buddha bone fragments and five gilt pearls, and was enclosed in a larger gold sarara stupa. The stupa and the jar were included in the exhibitions Gems of China's Cultural Relics, Beijing, 1990, cat.no.151, and 1997, cat.no. 142.